Should the NHL change the Conference seeding rule?

[wingsdiehard13 33]

I was looking over the standings of past years and realized that the #4 seed has finished with more points than #3 seed in every season except the 08-09 Eastern Conference standings.

08-09

Team Points

Bruins 116

Capitals108

Devils 106

Penguins 99

Team Points

Sharks 117

Wings 112

Canucks 100

Hawks 104

07-08

Team Points

Canadiens 104

Penguins 102

Capitals 94

Devils 99

Team Points

Wings 115

Sharks 108

Wild 98

Ducks 102

06-07

Team Points

Sabres 113

Devils 107

Thrashers 97

Senators 105

Team Points

Wings 113

Ducks 110

Canucks 105

Predators110

05-06

Team Points

Senators 113

Hurricanes 112

Devils 101

Sabres 110

Team Points

Wings 124

Stars 112

Flames 103

Predators 106

And it could very well happen again this year:

09-10

Team Points Games Played

Capitals 120 81

Devils 99 80

Sabres 98 80

Penguins 99 80

Team Points Games Played

Sharks 111 81

Hawks 109 80

Canucks 101 81

Coyotes 106 81

So that begs the question, should the NHL change the automatic top 3 seeds for the conference winners? Personally, I think that they should have the top 4 in order of most points, with the conference winners getting an automatic top 4 seed.

[puffy 97]

I never liked the rule to begin with. Why should any team be rewarded for having a weak ass division? Being the best of the worst is no reason for a reward.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Yes, especially since it happens pretty much every year, like you said.

The fact that teams play more divisional games than games against other teams in the conference only bolsts that further.

[Xitium 272]

It doesn't matter, because the top 4 all start with home ice in the first round anyway, and further rounds are compared to your opponent.

[puffy 97]

It doesn't matter, because the top 4 all start with home ice in the first round anyway, and further rounds are compared to your opponent.

It's a situational thing but sometimes it does matter. Who knows maybe the 3rd place Team A would have beaten the 6th place Team B but instead they were stuck in the 4th vs 5th battle and lost.

[CanadaBoy 151]

I would go as far as saying top 16 teams in the league make the playoffs.

It is unbelievable how weak the east is.

(Wings are 5th in points in the West, and 6th in the entire league)

[crotty99 302]

I agree, the current system is so stange. Especially when one conference is so much stronger than the other.

The league is all about parity these days so I wouldn't get your hopes up for a rule change anytime soon.

[Buppy 1,720]

It doesn't matter, because the top 4 all start with home ice in the first round anyway, and further rounds are compared to your opponent.

For the first three rounds, the higher seed gets home ice. It's only in the Finals where points come back into play.

I don't think it's a big problem though, and winning your division, weak as it may be, should have some kind of reward.

[rwfan007 18]

Divisions are there for regional travel and to encourage inter-division rivalries. So having divisions is kind of a playoffs in itself so the top team in each division is rewarded for winning. The playoffs are there for teams to see how they stack up against the entire league, but divisions are there basically for the travel, keeping the majority of the games within a reasonable distance instead of jetting all over the country every game.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Why do people think it doesn't matter when the higher seed you are the more likely you are going to face a weaker team?

I would prefer a 3-6 matchup over a 4-5 matchup.

[zettie85 106]

I would go as far as saying top 16 teams in the league make the playoffs.

It is unbelievable how weak the east is.

(Wings are 5th in points in the West, and 6th in the entire league)

Didn't even realize we were 6th in the league. That is nice to see. 6th in points during a bad season seems to be pretty good to me. haha

[CanadaBoy 151]

Didn't even realize we were 6th in the league. That is nice to see. 6th in points during a bad season seems to be pretty good to me. haha

haha yeah I am also impressed in the turnaround.

I think we were sitting @ 21st at one point

[eva unit zero 271]

I think it should be like this:

There are 30 teams in the league.

There are 16 teams that make the playoffs.

There are 6 division winners.

Due to travel, I am not certain whether I prefer the conference system or not, but I do support this:

The division winners are guaranteed a playoff spot, but nothing more.

Regardless of whether you use conferences or not, it is theoretically possible for as few as four divisions to produce playoff teams. Given how close Nashville was last season, and the fact that the Atlantic division could produce five playoff teams as long as Philly and NYR each gain at least one more point than Boston over the remaining games, it's not an unreasonable situation for one or more division to achieve that goal.

[Guest mindfly]

I think they should do as they do in sweden, the 1st seed gets to pick which team they wanna meet, then it's the 2nd seed turn etc...so it's not always 1versu8, 2versus7, 3versus6 4versus5....

Edited April 10, 2010 by mindfly

[Zohan Franzen 18]

I think they should do as they do in sweden, the 1st seed gets to pick which team they wanna meet, then it's the 2nd seed turn etc...so it's not always 1versu8, 2versus7, 3versus6 4versus5....

Really ? I didn´t know that, but it sounds great !

[Guest mindfly]

Really ? I didn´t know that, but it sounds great !

Hmm, 1st gets to pick the 7th or 8th, the 2nd gets to pick 6th or 7th/8th depending on which team the 1st seed picked... and it goes on, so they can't pick any team but they can choose between two, basically. So a little bit of option...

Now I got it right, lol.

[Guest screwdahawks]

I would go as far as saying top 16 teams in the league make the playoffs.

It is unbelievable how weak the east is.

(Wings are 5th in points in the West, and 6th in the entire league)

Absolutely agree, I also believe the 3 point system needs to go along with bushel basket sized catching gloves AND OVER-SIZED PADS

Edited April 10, 2010 by screwdahawks

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

The current playoff seeding system is fine IMO. The points you get in the standings for the regular season is what needs serious fixing IMO. Even though the Wings have benefited greatly from it, the dinky point for overtime or shootout losses just is silly I think. Either go back to a win-loss-tie system without any shootouts, or if you keep the shootouts (which I do typically like - it has it's place in the regular season), reward the team more for winning in 60 minutes and no points for a loss at any point in a game, no questions asked.

[Guest mindfly]

3pts for win in regulation would be awesome and it wouldnt be as impossible to leapfrog teams late in the season...

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

My whole standings stance if shootouts remained would be 3 points for a regulation win, 2 in overtime, 1 in a shootout, 0 for a loss at any point.

If it's W-L-T, the 2 for a win and 1 point for a tie each way works fine like it did before.

[pjgj13 30]

Divisions are there for regional travel and to encourage inter-division rivalries. So having divisions is kind of a playoffs in itself so the top team in each division is rewarded for winning. The playoffs are there for teams to see how they stack up against the entire league, but divisions are there basically for the travel, keeping the majority of the games within a reasonable distance instead of jetting all over the country every game.

You mean like the Atlantic Division where the longest distance is maybe 5 or 6 hours, BY CAR?? Or the poor Dallas Stars who probably travel the most miles because they are in the Pacific Division and the are probably closer the the Atlantic Ocean than the Pacific Ocean.